Information retrieval systems, which are often web-based, enable users to search for documents in a fast and efficient manner. Some of the retrieved documents may be written by online authors such as bloggers or reporters and users are typically not familiar with those authors or bloggers. This makes it hard for users to quickly assess the relevance of documents in a results list. This is especially the case where a user is searching for information on a topic that he or she is not familiar with. As the number of authors grows it becomes increasingly difficult for users to find out whether documents are likely to be relevant to him or her.
Online authors create content which is available online. Such authors may write about more than one topic. For example, an author may write restaurant reviews and also reviews about family holidays. In another example, an author may write news and opinions about an Enterprise and may also write reviews about movies.
The embodiments described below are not limited to implementations which solve any or all of the disadvantages of known information retrieval systems.